Sorry, but I really do not think that the Asgard, Nox and Ancients would have anything to do with beings who transform into slavering wild beasts when the moon is full. They would certainly not be considered advanced enough to be one of the four races, the other three of which value peace and nonviolence.

Personally, I think it's silly to assume that they're furry just because the letters f-u-r are their name. After all, those three letters put together only have that meaning in English, and I kind of doubt that English is the native tongue of the Furlings . . . even though the entire known universe seems to know the language.

And here's something else to think about. Being from Earth, we would be called Earthlings out there in the galaxy. So what if the home planet of the Furlings is named Fur?

I do not picture them with fur. I imagine them with two legs and two arms, but that's as far as I'll go in drawing up a mental picture.

I think it would be great if the Furlings made an appearance in one of the movies, and we found out that they are actually as bald as billiard balls, not a bit of fur or hair on them. I can just hear what Jack would have to say. Maybe I'll write a fic about that someday. Oh, jeez. The plot is coming to me already. I so do not need this!

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

That depends on what you consider "canon". No one spelled it out loud in any episode, but every Stargate SG-1 resource I've seen spells it that way, including RDA's official Web site, rdanderson.com, and Rob Cooper, the guy who wrote the episode, later lamented having come up with such a silly name. Based upon what he said, it is spelled Furlings.

As a note of interest, "für", in German, means "for".

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

Spyridon wrote:Who said they had to be wild animals? Look at the unas. Who said they can shift in the first place?

You said werewolves. In folklore, werewolves are humans who transform into wolves or wolf-like beasts, typically when there is a full moon. If there is no transformation, they aren't werewolves. Even before Hollywood got in on it, werewolves in folktales and mythology were most definitely not portrayed as gentle, cuddly creatures. They were killers.

Spyridon wrote:There has to be aliens out there covered in fur. Unas were scaly and the Ree'tou (did I spell that right) were just bizarre. Wait, that gas particle entity was bizarre.

I'm sure there are. That isn't the issue. The issue is making the assumption that the Furlings have fur just because of their name. It's a silly assumption that because the race's name has "fur" in it, they must have fur on their bodies. In the native language of the Furlings, it wouldn't even be pronounced or spelled that way.

I might devote a few minutes to it sometime this weekend -- once I decide what Furlings without fur look like.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

Spyridon wrote:But why are we assuming the folklore is true? After look at the Goa'ulds.

The mythologies weren't entirely correct but there were mostly true. Just changed in some ways.

I assume you're theorizing that, in the Stargate universe, the myth of the werewolf was based upon the existence of alien visitors that had a wolf-like appearance. This would open a big can of worms. If werewolves were actually alien visitors, then what about vampires, the Yeti, and hundreds of other mythical beings and beasts that have cropped up in mythology and folklore throughout history? Why werewolves in particular? Heck, Yetis are furry, too. Maybe they're Furlings! So is Sasquatch. Wow. Maybe we've got tribes of Furlings living in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest and on the mountains of Tibet!

I'm a little confused why you posted this link and who you mean by "they". Did you not know that they were first mentioned by the Asgard in the episode The Fifth Race? They were one of the 4 races represented in the meeting room on Heliopolis, the planet in Torment of Tantalus. Other than 200, that is the only time they were ever mentioned.

Okay, now I'm really confused. I know you're reading Turning Point, so you must have read the part where Daniel talked about the Furling language being one of the four found on Heliopolis. So, yes, we do know what it looks like . . . sort of. We just don't know which of the two languages besides Ancient and Asgard shown in that episode it is. Personally, I believe that the one that reminds me of some characters in Arabic is the language of the Nox since it has a more organic look to it, which would mean that the one that's made up of bent triangles and dots is the Furling language, which, I must say, is a pathetic attempt at creating an alien language. It looks completely fake. I can't believe they couldn't do better than that. But then look at the Ancient language, which looks like something that came out of a computer.

Oh, by the way, if you'd like to learn how to read Ancient, go here: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ancients.htm . One of these days, I'm going to use that and see what all those things we saw written in Ancient really say.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

Oops. I completely forgot that the Furlings played an important part in Paradise Lost. I never saw the episode, so it slipped my mind. Sorry about that. My bad.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

Well, I was wrong. From what I see in the screen caps from Paradise Lost, the writing with characters that somewhat resemble some in Arabic is the Furling Language.

Since both Jonas and Maybourne were able to translate the writing, I can only assume that, at some point before then, the SGC must have found or were given the complete Furling language, because there is no way they could do any real translations with only that little bit of writing on Heliopolis to go by. Also, Jonas knew that language was Furling. If the stuff on Heliopolis was all that had ever been found, he wouldn't know if it was Furling or Nox. Oh, and since when is Maybourne a linguist?! First he translates that writing, then, later, he translates Ancient in It's Good to be King.

Maybe I'll incorporate this into Turning Point. Daniel now has a burning desire to know the language because of his ordeal and perhaps asks the Asgard for what they have on it.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

Well, I wrote it. Go on and read the fic, if you are so inclined. That didn't take me long, now did it.

Are you sure you're not thinking about a fanfic, Spyridon? I'm almost certain that nothing was said about the language between Torment of Tantalus and the end of Season 5, and I don't know of any Season 6 episode besides Paradise Lost that has a reference to them.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

I know it wasn't a fanfic, Maureen. The guy I was talking to was an actual linguist and we were pming each other. He recognized the characters and told me the characters were from the Middle East from one of two languages he had told me. But it's been a year since I've talked to him and I don't remember the names of the dialects.

Spyridon wrote:I know it wasn't a fanfic, Maureen. The guy I was talking to was an actual linguist and we were pming each other. He recognized the characters and told me the characters were from the Middle East from one of two languages he had told me. But it's been a year since I've talked to him and I don't remember the names of the dialects.

Maybe I should have paid more attention.

I was really curious about this, so I went to Omnigot and went through all of the hundreds of languages and writing systems they have there, and, though I did find a few that bore some similarities, most of them Middle Eastern, I did not find any that had a striking resemblance to the Furling language in Torment of Tantalus. Too bad you can't remember what languages he was talking about.

Dr. Markov: If you're implying that everything Russian-made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.Daniel: So they occasionally catch fire, but they keep perfect time? Sorry. I think I've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too much.

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